Veil = Christ’s flesh; four pillars = evangelists; Word hidden until resurrection
Cyril: …spoken already, and, as I myself somehow think, sufficiently the things upon the linen and the purple, and the spun scarlet, and indeed also hyacinth, we will push aside the same-speaking; yet that at least we will say for the present: The veil upon four golden pillars, whose bases are silver, was then hinting the mystery of Christ. For what? Did not wise Paul also name for us Christ’s body a veil, saying thus, ‘Which he inaugurated for us a fresh and living way through the veil, that is, of his flesh’ (Hebrews 10:20)?
Palladius: You have spoken uprightly.
Cyril: Observe then as in shadows and riddles, that being God and from God Father according to nature the Word has come to be as in a golden and undecaying ark, the temple from Virgin; for undecaying and honored is Christ’s body; and he was all but also being hidden as in an order of a veil, having taken the flesh; and we say the Word from God is hidden, not as having been limited in a small body; for everywhere and in all things is the Son; but by escaping notice economically, and enduring the time of the showing-forth. And the time of showing-forth unto all is the living-again from dead ones. For before the honored cross, he was ordering the holy disciples that they not make him apparent. For it has been written thus. And after at least living again having suffered the death, ‘Going,’ he says, ‘disciple all the nations, baptizing them unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.’ (Matthew 17:9) So then the veil was hanging upon the pillars, covering within the ark, and it would be a type of Christ, being raised high by the proclamations of the holy evangelists, and being seen in glory of godhead by those in the holy tent—that is, the Church. And four are the pillars, golden and silver-around; and equal in number to them are the evangelists, bright and honored. So then the ark was lying, and from above downward the veil was extending, the one from linen and purple and the others, and it was making it not visible. And from above the veil and of the Cherubim unto right and left, God was naming, showing that he is also beyond every creation; and also all the uppermost of the rational ones—that is, the Seraphim—sit under the divine and ineffable glory, and escorting the Son himself, even if he has become flesh, and as somehow in a lowering of the equality toward the Father, according as he has been born human. Therefore also he himself was saying: ‘My Father is greater than I.’ (John 14:28) And being equal according to nature to the one who has begotten, he says the coming-to-be in lesser things through only the human. On account of this also in the holy tent, in a circle of the veil, the Cherubim, and they themselves escorting the Son as God. And indeed also from above the veil itself, which was unto a type of Christ, God is thought. ‘And I will be known,’ (Exodus 25:22) he says, ‘from there, and I will speak to you.’ (Matthew 28:19) For beyond every creation is the Father, and of Emmanuel himself, not according as he is thought and is God; for he is equal according to all things to God; but as far as
Greek
ρηκότες δὲ ἤδη, καὶ, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, διαρκῶς τὰ ἐπί τε τῇ βύσσῳ καὶ τῇ πορφύρᾳ, καὶ τῷ κεκλωσμένῳ κοκκίνῳ, καὶ μέν τοι καὶ ὑακίνθῳ, παρωσόμεθα μὲν τὸ ταυτοεπές· ἐκεῖνό γε μὴν ἐροῦμεν εἰς τὸ παρόν· Τὸ καταπέτασμα τὸ ἐπὶ τεσσάρων στύλων χρυσῶν, ὧν αἱ βάσεις ἀργυραῖ, τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον ὑπεδήλου τότε. Τί γάρ; οὐχὶ καταπέτασμα τὸ σῶμα Χριστοῦ καὶ σοφὸς ἡμῖν ὠνόμασε Παῦλος, οὕτω λέγων, «Ἣν ἐνεκαίνισεν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος, τουτέστι, τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὡς ἐν σκιαῖς καὶ αἰνίγμασιν, ὅτι Θεὸς ὢν καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς κατὰ φύσιν ὁ Λόγος, ὡς ἐν χρυσῇ καὶ ἀσήπτῳ γέγονε κιβωτῷ, τῷ ἐκ Παρθένου ναῷ· ἄσηπτον γὰρ καὶ τίμιον τὸ σῶμα Χριστοῦ· μονονουχὶ δὲ καὶ ἐκρύπτετο καθάπερ ἐν τάξει καταπετάσματος, τὴν σάρκα λαβών· κρύπτεσθαι δέ φαμεν τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγον, οὐχ ὡς ἐν βραχεῖ περιορισθέντα σώματι· πανταχῆ γὰρ καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ὁ Υἱός· ἀλλὰ τῷ λανθάνειν οἰκονομικῶς, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἀναδείξεως ὑπομένειν καιρόν. Ἀναδείξεως δὲ τῆς εἰς ἅπαντας ὁ καιρὸς, ἡ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναβίωσις. Πρὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ, τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐπέταττε μαθηταῖς, ἵνα μὴ φανερὸν αὐτὸν ποιῶσι. Γέγραπται γὰρ ὡδί. Μετὰ δέ γε τὸ ἀναβιῶναι παθόντα τὸν θάνατον, «Πορευθέντες, φησὶ, μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος.» Οὐκοῦν ἐπεκρέματο μὲν τοῖς στύλοις τὸ καταπέτασμα, κατακαλύπτον ἔσω τὴν κιβωτὸν, τύπος δ' ἂν εἴη Χριστοῦ, τοῖς τῶν ἁγίων εὐαγγελιστῶν κηρύγμασιν αἰρομένου τε ὑψοῦ, καὶ ἐν δόξῃ θεότητος ὁρωμένου τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ, τουτέστι, τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ. Τέσσαρες δὲ οἱ στύλοι, χρυσοῖ καὶ περιάργυροι· ἰσάριθμοι δὲ αὐτοῖς οἱ εὐαγγελισταὶ, λαμπροί τε καὶ τίμιοι. Οὐκοῦν ἔκειτο μὲν ἡ κιβωτὸς, ἄνωθεν δὲ κάτω διῆκον τὸ καταπέτασμα, τὸ ἐκ βύσσου καὶ πορφύρας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὐχ ὁρατὴν ἐτίθει. Ἄνωθεν δὲ τοῦ καταπετάσματος καὶ τῶν εἰς δεξιά τε καὶ εὐώνυμα Χερουβὶμ, ἐχρημάτιζε Θεὸς, δεικνὺς ὅτι καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν κτίσιν ἐστί· καὶ αὐτὰ δὲ πάντα τὰ τῶν λογικῶν ἀνωτάτω, τουτέστι τὰ Σεραφὶμ, τὴν θείαν τε καὶ ἄῤῥητον ὑποκάθηται δόξαν, καὶ αὐτὸν δορυφοροῦντα τὸν Υἱὸν, εἰ καὶ γέγονε σὰρξ, καὶ ὡς ἐν ὑφέσει τυχὸν τῆς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ἰσότητος, καθὸ πέφυκεν ἄνθρωπος. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν αὐτός· «Ὁ Πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστιν.» Ἶσος δὲ ὢν κατὰ φύσιν τῷ γεγεννηκότι, τὸ ἐν μείοσι γενέσθαι φησὶ διὰ μόνον τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ, κύκλῳ μὲν τοῦ καταπετάσματος, τὰ Χερουβὶμ, καὶ αὐτὰ ὡς Θεὸν δορυφοροῦντα τὸν Υἱόν. Καὶ μὴν καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καταπετάσματος ἄνωθεν, ὃ ἦν εἰς τύπον Χριστοῦ, νοεῖται Θεός. «Καὶ γνωσθήσομαι» γὰρ, φησὶν, «ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ λαλήσω σοι.» Ἐπέκεινα γὰρ πάσης κτίσεως ὁ Πατὴρ, καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ, οὐ καθ' ὃ νοεῖται καὶ ἔστι Θεός· ἶσος γάρ ἐστι κατὰ πάντα Θεῷ· ἀλλ' ὅσον
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 10 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 10 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 5 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 10)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 10)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.